Reflections 2014 – Leave Your Future Behind

“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” ― Joseph Campbell

Seize the Day After Tomorrow

by MIKOspace

Returning to MIKOspace from a 2-month’s break on business and other matters, I am glad to welcome many new readers as well as the many loyal readers who continued faithfully to visit myBlog. Nearly 10,000 page views have been recorded since MIKOspace’s debut on 7 September 2014. Your support has been truly generous and I sincerely appreciate your encouragement.  The last 2 months’ restful and productive break from blogging also provided opportunities to reflect on 2015 and beyond.      

Our conversations will continue over a wide and wider range of topics, I promise. Education continues to top my first loves. The stealthy insidiousness of bogus World Universities Ranking Standards would be engaged even more ferociously. Singapore’s Global Brand of Authenticity and Integrity should never be misused and abused to mask their lack of credibility, validity and reliability. It is my belief that our fine Universities should not participate in lending and associating Singapore’s pristine and impeccable credentials to otherwise fraudulent and bogus standards of dubious criteria as adjudged by the United Nations and Eminent Professors of Education and Higher Learning.   

We owe it to our Founding Generations to be a Nation of Law, and never to cheapen our Reputation, painstakingly built over the past 50 years, in any manner.  

And on our 50^th birthday in 2015, the future course and fate of our Singapore will be put to before the people in a likely General Election with a significant distinction. The decisive vote to determine the fate of Singapore over the next decade and into the mid-21^st Century will rest with an electorate whose vast majority are born after 1965.  They would remember little of the 3^rd World Singapore at their birth, and have enjoyed the rapid prosperity growth of Singapore over the past 40+ years.  Fresher memories instead exist among most younger and new electorate of the increasingly harder and difficult years over the recent 25 years when over-crowding from immigration and migrant workers compounded increasing living costs associated with food, transportation, medical, private housing, vehicle ownership and education together with decreased opportunities for universities admission and choice job opportunities.      

The Pioneer Generation (borned 1949 and before) and Post-Pioneer Generation (borned after 1950) would bring to the 2015 General Elections the active aging issues of retirement, mobility, geriatric care, medical and the release, and possible topping-up, of CPF.  Already some are making a fuss over the CPF.  

The social and national issues that could impact the 2015 General Elections shall be monitored closely by MIKOspace who would enjoin the conversations to enhance the debate quality and factual truthfulness of the discussions.

In 2014, Hong Kong students startled the world with their failed sit-down (with mahjong) protests presumably for more democracy.  I expect these protests to return in some other forms, despite of their lack of agenda, problem definition, credible issues and glaring absence of possible solutions. Democracy in 2014 – Hong Kong Chapter concluded that they therefore failed to garner the popular support of the vast majority of HongKongers to their doomed cause.    

Issues of Tibet and the Dalai Lama as well as Racial Harmony and Malaysia’s Racist Politics would continue to surface, and MIKOspace would continue to assert the truth with pertinent facts and our usual persuasiveness, in our Panorama – Singapore’s Battle for Merger.

Indeed, 2015 would be much more exciting than 2014. Carpe Diem. We must be ready to seize the Day after Tomorrow.  And, as Joseph Cambell puts it, “be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us”.

Thank you, one and all, for 2014.

Have a Great and Bountiful Life Ahead.

Share your Abundance, Respect the Environment and be Compassionate to those who are sick, younger, weaker and older.

Love all, for Love conquers all things and circumstances.

2015 – Would it be the same all over again?

One year has passed. I must have written between 800 to 1000 posts in 2014 at the rate of 2 or 3 posts daily. I don’t think anyone is happy after reading what I wrote, but many would be unhappy for the right or wrong reasons. My apologies, I did not set out to write to make anyone happy. Some may feel sad, some may even get depression after reading my posts.

My objectives are very different. I hope that those who read my posts would at least be questioning what kind of nonsense I was writing. If they bother to ask, to think, to get angry or feel annoyed, to feel uptight, to want to say something or do something, that would be good enough for me. If they agree with what I wrote, good. If they disagree with what I wrote, very good. At least they were listening and have some ideas of their own, to agree or to disagree.

What would be pathetic would be to feel nothing, unmoved or unemotional, just numbness. It could mean that they did not know what I was writing, did not bother, did not want to bother. This is unlikely as anyone that bothered to read my stuff must already be motivated, searching and thinking, wanting to know another perspective of things. My greatest regret is for the unthinking Sinkies to end up like unthinking parrots or tape recording machine. Just listen and repeat or regurgitate whatever that goes into their heads, GIGO. GIGO is a common terminology used in the computer language, garbage in garbage out. It is expected of computers and machine to act like GIGO. It is so sad to have human beans getting this GIGO disease, whatever goes in just comes out, unprocessed and did not benefit them in anyway.

Can you imagine people eating hamburger or roti prata and shit out the same, in the same form, unchanged, unprocessed? The unthinking human body is better than that. It absorbs and processes food entering the body, takes out the useful stuff and only releases the shit. What would happen if the body takes in and releases the same stuff unprocessed? It would be a big pity and a big waste of food.

I would be very glad if people disagree with me and start to form new ideas from the garbage that I posted. The very objective of my posts is to provoke the lazy and dull mind, to make it angry and to start ticking, to elicit some thinking process, to form new ideas and views of what is happening to our country. Not to be led or misled for the wrong reasons or false logic and false truth.

I would likely to be following the same path and methodology, to agitate and to make people uncomfortable and even angry. And hopefully something good comes out of it. It is a bit like reading the Animal Farm. The brief moment of liberation and hope soon turned to drudgery. The only animals that were having fun and enjoying life were the pigs. The readers looking from the outside could see the trickery, treachery and deceit and the injustice on the rest of the animals, a sense of indignation, the same way as reading my blog.

2015 is unlikely to be as peaceful and uneventful as 2014. Hopefully the ideas that were planted in 2014 would bear fruits, good fruits, for the good of the people, to make them smarter or at least thinking people. 2015 cannot be like 2014. 2015 is going to be a very active year, a year of actions and activities with the people taking the lead and not being led.

A Happy New Year to all my friends here. No need any hypocrisy to greet the dogs Happy New Year. It will be a waste of time. Let’s see how many of them will start snarling after reading this New Year message.

While we are greeting the New Year with big hopes, spend a moment of silence for the victims of QZ8501 and their families. 2014 has closed tragically on them and changed their lives completely.

Kopi Level - Green

Resurrection of the Holy Trinity of 3 wise doctors

‘The Sunday Times in a sarcastic editorial on 28th November 1954 on the launch said,
 
“There was a fair crowd at the Victoria Memorial Hall, though fewer than at a performance of an absurd film about a Persian Princess and a shifty barber… at which place a more intelligent dialogue could be heard I am unable to say.”
 
The Straits Times thought the party was a non-starter but they were wrong. By 1959 the PAP had become a major player, thanks to the conviction of the ordinary people. As expected of a new party made up of diverse opinions, it did not take long for the internal squabble to start….’
 
The above paragraphs came from an article by Dr Wong Wee Nam, titled ‘History is bunk’ in the TRE, sought to give history another perspective by a fellow doctor to do justice to three fellow doctors who are living martyrs to yesterday’s brutal politics of survival. Except for Dr Lim Hock Siew, Dr Poh Soo Kai and Dr Chia Thye Poh are still with us, are living testimonies for those who need to hear from the ‘horse’s mouth.
It started in 1954 as mentioned in the above paragraph by Wong Wee Nam, who had seen and lived with the events of the time. There was an official version reported as the official truth and the official history of Singapore’s formative years. There are other versions, like Tan Pin Pin’s movie and now Wong Wee Nam’s testimony of what it really happened.
 
Though there are many versions, very few are allowed to be read by this ‘free and democratic’ state of highly educated citizenry when the paternalistic govt is still acting like a protective father fearing that the naïve little children or teenagers could be misguided by reading different versions of the truth. In a city that 55 years old are deemed irresponsible and cannot be trusted with their life savings, it is a necessary evil to keep the people from reading the wrong stuff and thinking funny with different truths of their history. The official version is the safest document to read and to believe in. Period.
 
Wong Wee Nam also touched on the innocents like Dr Ang Wee Chai, the wife of the late Francis Khoo, who is still banned from returning home except with special approvals. She must still be seen as a threat to national security or a dangerous person that would wreak havoc to the country on her return, like a few others. Wong Wee Nam is calling for a national reconciliation, a healing of the wounds, a kind of national amnesty, for the return of our sons and daughters banished to foreign shores for political crimes. Would his call be heeded by a city of teenagers that never grow up or a bunch of irresponsible adults that cannot be trusted when they are past 55 years of age?
 
Would anyone believe in burying the hatchet to live in peace, to go in peace and to rest in peace so that a national reconciliation can take place? A few words came to my mind, inclusive society, compassion, kindness, we are a family, a nation of people. 2 days to go before the dawn of a new year. Not much time left for it to happen, not much time for a graceful closure.

Kop Level - Green

QZ8501 – Still many unanswered questions

While everyone is saddened by the crash of QZ8501 and griefing with the families, there are still many questions left unanswered. Today’s commercial aircraft are built not to drop down from the sky. Today’s pilots are trained and very experienced before they are allowed to captain an aircraft and would be able to pull out of a spin or a stalled aircraft or guide the aircraft down in case of engine failure.
 
There are very few situations that a pilot or his co pilot would not be able to make an emergency call or squawks when an aircraft is in trouble. Why was there no emergency call?
 
There are a few possibilities why an emergency call cannot be made. One, a disastrous thunderbolt that disabled the aircraft immediately, or at least destroyed its communication system. Two, a mid air explosion. Three, very unlikely, no one was in the cockpit when an emergency developed and no one was in a position to make a call out. Four, a mad and suicidal pilot and co pilot like was quoted in the MH370 case that intentionally desisted from making an emergency call out. There could be a few more other possibilities other than these obvious ones.
 
Now the story waiting to be told lies in the black boxes. How did it happen in a routine commercial flight with a fairly new aircraft? Even if the aircraft developed engine trouble, there will be an emergency call. The pilot would still be able to bring the aircraft to a force landing. Falling out of the sky just like QZ8501 is not normal.
 
The mystery starts now.

Kopi Level - Green

23 Jokes of 2014

Below is a list of events/sayings, not in any order of merit that made it to my list of Jokes of 2014. The list is not exhaustive but I am exhausted listing trying to remember the long list of queer things that happened in the year.
 
1. Prime Modi is the Asian of the Year awarded by the Straits Times. The citation of his great achievements, ‘he met many head of states’.
2. Singapore will be in deep trouble when PAP is voted out in the next GE.
3. Philippines are buying 3 patrol boats to counter the PRC Navy in the South China Sea. And Vietnam also bought 3 submarines to do the same against China’s submarine fleet of 65.
4. The Malays are the new beggars in Malaysia by Mahathir.
5. Australian PM Abbott knows the location of the missing MH370 aircraft.
6. The New York policemen are fearing for their lives and are afraid to answer calls for help by the public. They rather remain in the safety of the police station.
7. Singapore is building smart cities in India. Modi is more realistic and only aspires to build more toilets.
8. Holding a protest rally in Hong Lim Park can be sued for public nuisance.
9. Elected Members of Parliament wanting to hold a community event need to get approval from grassroot leaders that are non elected volunteer community leaders.
10. Over charging a client by millions of dollars is not overcharging but over billing, therefore not an offence.
11. A young foreigner, stranger with no relationship, could obtain a Lasting Power of Attorney to manage the assets of a very rich widow.
12. Millionaires and billionaires begging the govt for help.
13. The world’s most highly paid leaders need to travel overseas to learn from leaders around the world earning a fraction of their income on how to take care of the aged.
14. HDB lost $2b building public housing.
15. Oil prices fell by 40% and public transport companies are asking for fare hikes.
16. Communist China is the world’s biggest economy, over taking the USA and Japan, two top capitalist countries.
17. Singapore’s financial centre cannot find Singaporeans with the required skill sets for banking and finance but can find them in the 3rd world villages.
18. Singapore, the top financial centre in Southeast Asia, is starting to plan for Sinkies for top management positions in the banking and finance industry starting in 2014.
19. Sinkies would allow anyone in the world to replace them in jobs in Singapore and believing these people are more talented than them, daft Sinkies.
20. There is no law against rogue traders cheating on tourists. Oops, they are not cheating, just clever and operating within the laws.
21. CPF is our money, or is it?.
22. God created the world and made Adam and Eve. Everything else is Made in China. (This is quoted from a blogger called Flabbergasted posting in TRE)
23. It cost $120k to get rid of 230 rats or more than 500 Singapore dollars per rat. This is more than what a person on social assistance scheme would receive in a month.

Kopi Level - Green